"After you get the tag, you can set the price as much as you like." Xiaofang promoted his business confidently.
Xiaofang is an intermediary, but he does not sell houses, but sells brand authorization, commonly known as "OEM" business.
In his circle of friends, there are all kinds of brand authorization advertisements, mainly clothing, but also brands that consumers are familiar with.
The reporter's investigation found that this kind of business is very common nowadays, and similar phenomena are widespread not only in clothing, but also in many fields such as medicine.
industry
Branded merchandise authorization
Annual revenue exceeds 1 billion yuan
The story of Antarctic people relying on brand authorization to "make no money for nothing" has long been a well-known business legend.
I opened the e-commerce platform and searched for Antarctic shops. There are dozens of shops. I have swiped more than a dozen screens on my mobile phone, but I haven't finished it yet.
In addition to underwear, Antarctic people also have home textiles, outdoor, men's shoes, children's clothing, small appliances, and even food.
Moreover, Antarctic also has other sub-brands such as Cadele Crocodile, Fine Teddy, PONY and so on.
Data show that in 2012, there were no direct stores for Antarctic people on the street.
In 2019 alone, Antarctic achieved 1.3 billion yuan in revenue through brand authorization.
Therefore, the reporter added Xiaofang’s WeChat account on the grounds that the cotton-padded clothing business was in urgent need of brand cooperation. The first brand to consult was Antarctic.
Xiao Fang said readily: "Antarctic people are suitable. Now Douyin and Pinduoduo are the most popular, and they can all be done." He said that OEM businesses are sold through e-commerce channels.
In the past few years, Taobao and Jingdong were the most popular.
Recently, Douyin and Pinduoduo have become rising stars.
The reporter asked another well-known underwear brand if it could OEM. Xiao Fang said that it could, but the licensing fee was too expensive, so he didn't do it.
He also briefly described the specific authorization process.
First, the two parties communicate their intentions.
Then, Xiaofang must conduct a production qualification audit of the reporter's factory, and must meet certain factory acceptance and product quality standards.
Then, you can pay the brand licensing fee and sign the agreement.
"Antarctic’s current authorization fee is 4,000 yuan, plus 3,000 sets of tags (tags), which will be used until the end of next year. The price of tags (tags) is 1.8 yuan for cotton-padded clothes and 1.7 yuan for cotton trousers." As for the Antarctic trademarks After the (tag), Xiao Fang said at what price the reporter was selling, "at will."
In Xiaofang’s circle of friends, the reporter also saw authorized advertisements for clothing brands such as Cardinal Crocodile, Woodpecker and Bin Yinu, and he said that “the threshold is not high”.
More powerful than Xiaofang, there are some full-time brand authorized websites.
The reporter saw a website claiming that its authorized brands cover more than a dozen categories such as home textiles, home furnishings, underwear, men's wear, women's wear, footwear, maternal and child wear, children's wear, clothing accessories, luggage, outdoor, home daily use, and personal care.
The authorization fee given by the website ranges from 0 to 20,000 per year.
The standard fee ranges from 0.25 yuan/piece to 2 yuan/piece.
The customer service told reporters that some brands that do not charge licensing fees have requirements for the minimum amount of trademarks, such as at least 10,000 at a time.
In the promotional materials on another website, the reporter saw more familiar brands claiming to be able to do OEM business, such as Hengyuanxiang, Fuguiniao, Arctic Velvet, Yu Zhaolin, Pierre Cardin and so on.
Explore
Pharmaceutical companies set foot in OEM
Moved to the makeup industry
Business is not only in the clothing industry, medicine and health products are also another industry where OEM is popular.
People who are called "medicine Antarctic people" are Renhe.
Searching for Renhe on the e-commerce platform, you can also see a wide range of products, including medicine, food, equipment, and even cosmetics.
In fact, it is more convenient to check on Renhe's official website.
The reporter did his homework beforehand, but in actual operation, he still didn't expect Renhe to have so many official websites.
In addition to the official websites of Renhe Group and Renhe Pharmaceutical, there are also official websites of its pharmaceutical companies.
In addition, its other brands, such as Fuyanjie, Youcardan, Shining, etc. also have official websites.
For more information, go to the official website of Renhe's commercial company.
On the official website of Renhe Juhe Health, one of Renhe's commercial companies, it can be seen that Renhe has been involved in the five major areas of personal care, beauty and skin care, nourishing health care, food and beverage, and medical equipment.
And this website is mainly introducing its big health franchise product category.
Similar to the Antarctic, Renhe Health also has many sub-brands, such as Yaodu Renhe, Renhe Ingenuity, Anqinbao, Yijianqingxin and so on.
And these big health franchise products are mainly sold on the online platform.
They regard e-commerce, micro-business, Internet celebrities, etc. as their main investment promotion targets.
The website itself also promotes that Renhe Great Health Products has created a number of firsts in Tmall categories.
These include Renhe Lao Beijing Foot Patch, Renhe 159 Meal Replacement Powder, Renhe Tianshan Snow Lotus Antibacterial Gel, etc.
The reporter found that the newly recommended franchise products on the website are all cosmetics.
On the website of the State Drug Administration, there is a domestic non-special use cosmetics registration service platform.
With "renhe" as the key word, more than 600 pieces of cosmetics information can be found (some of which have been cancelled).
Every Renhe cosmetics manufacturer can be found, and the manufacturer will have a remark, many of which are "independent production".
In other words, although this cosmetic bears the Renhe trademark, it is independently produced by another company.
The reporter also used Tianyan to check the relationship between these manufacturers and Renhe.
"Olyliya (Guangdong) Jahwa Technology Co., Ltd.", which independently produces "Renhe Ingenious Eye Essence Milk", has some connections with Renhe Group and through other technology and investment companies.
"Guangzhou Shifei Biological Technology Co., Ltd.", which independently produces "Renhe Ingenious Blackhead Export Film", is somewhat related to Renhe Group through equity participation and investment.
"Guangdong Yuezhuang Biotechnology Co., Ltd.", which independently produces "Renhe Ingenious Seaweed Plant Mask", has no relationship with Renhe Group.
There are many similar situations.
Advice
Can't make a sticker
Regardless of product quality
Renhe Juhe Health’s official website advertises itself like this: “The first-line brand is well-recognized by consumers, with strong product price premium and high conversion rate.” On the official website of Renhe New Retail, they describe themselves: “The emerging brand medicine is Renhe , Renhe ingenuity, Yijian Qingxin, etc., provide Renhe OEM, Renhe OEM, Renhe on behalf of processing, one-stop one-stop business cooperation services..." OEM is generally provided by the brand side to provide the brand, design the product, and produce it by the manufacturer.
Regardless of whether it is OEM, OEM or contract processing, the products consumers see are Renhe's brand identity.
The reporter noticed that Renhe Ingenuity and Medicine are both Renhe. Although the brand names are different, they all use the iconic red and white logo of Renhe Group.
On the e-commerce platform, even though the product is printed with Renhe Ingenuity and Yaodu Renhe, most businesses still emphasize the words "Renhe Pharmaceutical" on their promotional pages.
It is difficult for consumers to know the relationship behind these products with Renhe Group.
Shi Lichen, founder of Beijing Dingchen Management Consulting Co., Ltd., told reporters that in recent years, due to factors such as high operating pressure, many companies have embarked on the road of selling authorization and doing OEM business.
"Everyone has seen Antarctic people. The net profit of relying on OEM business is high, and the cost is almost no. Many companies are learning." Take Renhe as an example. In the past, relying on large-scale advertising investment, it has achieved brand awareness and strong premium ability. Naturally also embarked on this path.
Moreover, Shi Lichen revealed that now there are special intermediaries to go to public relations brand companies. "They tell brand companies that there is such a way to make money. They try to make brand companies sell licenses, and then they go to earn intermediary fees."
Shi Lichen said that OEM is not illegal at the legal level. The key is how to continue to control quality while authorizing.
"If you do not control quality, consumers are not satisfied. Consumers, whether you are OEM or on behalf of processing, only know that they are buying your brand. Brand reputation declines, and finally, the premium ability becomes lower and lower, and the brand becomes more and more. rotten."
There have been subtle changes in the business situation of Antarctica.
Reflected in the market, in the first half of this year, the net profit of Antarctic e-commerce attributable to shareholders of listed companies dropped by 42.85% from the same period last year.
"Antarctic people no longer have their main business. His main business is to sell authorization. But pharmaceutical companies like Renhe also have their main business pharmaceuticals. Therefore, we must pay special attention to the quality, otherwise the authorized products will become more and more complicated. Uncontrollable, it will eventually affect the reputation of the main business, and the gains outweigh the losses."
Shi Lichen believes that authorization cannot be given as soon as the brand is given, and just let it go. “The OEM is fine to a certain extent. However, brand companies must have a special department to manage the quality of OEM products. Each batch of random inspections, this is Indispensable. In terms of product promotion, there must also be control, so that the caliber is consistent and not exaggerated."
Our reporter Sun Yi illustrated Song Xi